Evans became the first NBA player to earn a fine under the new rule after picking up his second flopping violation. Players are fined $5,000 after the first warning and earn additional $5,000 penalties for each repeating offense. A player then earns a one-game suspension for the sixth violation.

Late in the third quarter, Evans drew contact on World Peace after making a pass near midcourt. But he exaggerated the contact to make it appear like a shove. World Peace was whistled for a foul.

That prompted World Peace to vent his frustrations on his Twitter account.

He reiterated his sentiments before the Lakers played at Sacramento on Wednesday.

"If they stop changing the rules, the refs would adjust to it," World Peace said. "They're just trying to do their job.

NBA TV analyst Greg Anthony senses the Lakers feel more comfortable with his offense than Mike Brown's Princeton-based system. The Lakers fired Brown after a 1-4 start and entered Wednesday's game at Sacramento winners of five of their last six games.

"I don't think they are thinking as much," Anthony said. "Part of what they were doing (with that Princeton offense) is that no one really knew what they were doing."

D'Antoni defended Brown.

"It's not always the coach's fault at all. Mike Brown is a great coach," D'Antoni said. "Sometimes there's a disconnect. When that happens, there's a change and the players buy in quicker and are ready to go down another road.

"Whether it's the right road or not, we'll find out at the end."

Bryant injury

Kobe Bryant revealed on his Facebook page Wednesday he had trouble sleeping the night before because of a persistent right foot and ankle injury.

"Ankle still throbbing," Bryant wrote. "Had to get up every few hours to ice it."

Bryant, who suffered the injury during training camp, still played Wednesday against Sacramento.